The present invention relates to a process for the electrochemical and chemical coating of niobium. More specifically, the process is suitable for applying coatings of silver, copper, nickel, or chromium.
Niobium, in addition to molybdenum, tantalum, and tungsten, is one of the metals which retains a high strength even at a high temperature. However, putting niobium into practical use has mostly failed because it has not been successfully accomplished to sufficiently protect the surface of niobium from oxidation processes; all the more so as any oxides formed on the surface do not provide any protection against a further rapid oxidation. Thus, although much work has been done on the protection against oxidation of the high-melting metals, only partial success has been achieved in narrowly limited fields of application.